Traditionally, meteorologists have relied on data obtained from radar-based networks (e.g., National Weather Service) to analyze the severity of weather systems over a large geographic area. Radar-based networks are used to generate images that depict the location, movement, and intensity of weather phenomena such as precipitation. However, deployment of such radar-based networks is expensive. For example, many underdeveloped or developing countries do not have the infrastructure or resources to support the installation of a radar-based network. In addition, radar-based networks are susceptible to blind spots or holes in the network coverage (i.e., areas the radar cannot reach) due to height limitations and geographical obstacles like mountains or large bodies of water.
More recently, lightning detection networks (e.g., Earth Networks Total Lightning Network (TLN)) have been installed to monitor the strength and frequency of lightning activity. The lightning detection networks track both cloud-to-ground and intracloud lightning. Because lightning is often associated with severe weather (e.g., tornadoes, hail), data generated by the lightning detection networks is used to identify the location of potentially dangerous weather systems and issue alerts to people in the affected area. The installation of a lightning detection network is typically much cheaper than the installation of a similar radar-based network. Also, lightning detection networks are able to see higher into the atmosphere than radar-based networks, and often can be installed to cover geographical areas that radar-based networks cannot, without holes or blind spots.